Rashida's Autobiography
by Rashida Ortiz

I was born on December 25, 1986. I was born in Albert Einstein Hospital. My mother always tells me that the reason my favorite color is purple is because when I was born I didn't have enough oxygen and so I was a light shade of purple.

I was born prematurely. I had to be put into an incubator. The doctor thought that either I was going to die, or my mother was going to die. But look at us now—we are healthy and alive! When I was a toddler, I would run and run and run. Then I would bump into something and hurt myself (hey, I was only one or two years old!). I lived with my grandmother for a couple of years. My mother had to work, and I saw her on the weekends until she got a babysitter for me. She got a nine to five job instead of a job where she had to work crazy hours. Although it was fun working at the Parks Department, she cared more about me and my well being. When I started kindergarten, I found a good friend named Sarai.

In the future I am going to be a famous doctor who will find a cure for AIDS. I will choose to work in the trauma field. I will handle emergency cases. In the hospital that I will work in, I will save hundreds of lives. I will also lose some patients, but I will save more than I will lose.

I will do this one day, but that day is not here yet. I am a thirteen year old girl who has hopes, dreams, and goals the size of the universe times two.

I have light brown skin, and light brown eyes. I have brown hair and in the sun it has some blond streaks. I write with my right hand, but I wish I could write with my left hand. Someday in the future when I am a doctor signing charts, I will be a lefty. I will write essays, reports, and other things with my left hand.

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